Geek of Oz

For the most part I try to watch films with an open mind and no expectations. But when I first heard that Baz Luhrmann would be directing The Great Gatsby I instantly knew that I wouldn’t enjoy it. I know that sounds narrow-minded but I’ve never warmed to his style of storytelling – like a comedian that I never found funny. I just don’t care for his flashy sequences and manic camera techniques. I found The Great Gatsby to be a bloated, self-indulgent and hollow film.

When an alien ship is found in Antarctica palaeontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is called to oversee the dig site. Assisted by staff from a near by Norwegian station and American helicopter pilot Carter (Joel Edgerton), Lloyd helps to extract a frozen life form which soon wreaks havok on the secluded science station. Acting as a prequel to John Carpenter's 1982 film of the same name, The Thing manages to bring the old school thrills without resorting to cheap guts and gore like many recent horror movies. Instead it uses the seclusion of the Antarctic station to its fullest, emphasising the helplessness felt by this handful of scientific researchers when faced with a horrific anthropomorphic abomination which can inhabit the body and likeness of any one of them.